Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » Mailing list ...why are we still using it?
| Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294441] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 10:47  |
Justin Brady
Messages: 769
Registered: April 2015
Location: Bell Buckle, TN
Karma: 11
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Okay at the risk of offending seemingly everyone....
Why on earth is there still a mailing list for this forum? It ruins the forum experience and I don't know how much longer I'll be able to take it!
I've been on forums for the last 10+ years and this is the only one that still uses a mailing list (or has in the last 10 years in my experience)
I realize that people are set in their ways, but honestly how hard is it to get on a forum instead of reading email?
The experience is so much better, there's a visual interface, the threads are consolidated, you can actually carry on a conversation with someone, etc.
Mailing lists are ancient tech, way past their useful lives, and quite frankly it ruins this forum for me.
I know I'm new and young and stupid etc, but at some point someone has to say something, someone (other than me) has to realize that this forum is going the way of the Dodo. As a very experienced forum user and member of the younger generation I will tell you flat out that it's because of the mailing list.
You can't find anything because there are 10908 threads with the same title: "RE: thread number 10908" "RE:RE: Thread 10908" etc
If I want to find a discussion on the Onan, I have to click through 500 1 message threads to find any useful information.
For instance:
I'm very interested in BobDunahugh's restoration project. Instead of clicking on BobDunahugh's restoration thread, i get a seemingly random update every day with a completely new post. So if I want to read about his restoration, I have to go to literally 100 threads to read it. I don't know about everyone else, but I get on here to waste a few minutes and learn a thing or two, I don't have 2 hours to track through trying to figure out what is going on.
Imagine if all of his stuff was in one thread, you could just scroll through and read all about what he's doing, you'd know where he currently stands in the project, what he's currently doing, what parts he needs, what parts hes selling, etc all by reading the last page or two rather than the last 100 topics.
Bob, I apologize for singling you out on this, no offense is meant in any way, it's just a good example of my point! My apologies for using you as the example.
Now that I have ranted and offended everyone, why don't I propose a solution?
In my (admittedly humble and most likely minority) opinion, there should be a thread, or a slideshow, or a PDF explaining the use of the forum to those who don't know how to use it. It is really very very simple and self explanatory. There should then be a mass email to all those on the mailing list that starting at such and such a date the mailing list will be discontinued in favor of a forum setup. Anyone who is not engaged enough to take the 10 minutes to learn to use the forum isn't participating enough to be effected anyway IMHO.
This is just my 2 cents, and is probably worth less than that. I just felt the need to get that out there to maybe give the forum a chance at a change and a chance at a future. As it stands in a couple of years no one will be on here and everyone will be on Facebook, and I can at least say that my hatred of Facebook is on par with most of yours!
Justin Brady
http://www.thegmcrv.com/
1976 Palm Beach 455
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| Re: Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294447 is a reply to message #294441] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 11:23  |
jknezek
Messages: 1057
Registered: December 2007
Karma: 5
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It's come up many times in the past. The average age of GMC motor home users does not lead to easy change. I agree, the mailing list is brutal on the forum, but since many of the most helpful members will ONLY use the mailing list, it is worth having the dual system to keep people involved.
The forum is struggling for many reasons. Technology is probably part of it, but so is membership age, the rise of the Facebook pages and a few other things.
I appreciate your frustration, but there isn't a simple solution here. The newer owners keep going somewhere else, and we desperately need the older members, who generally have the most helpful information. So inconvenience is a small price to pay.
Thanks,
Jeremy Knezek
1976 Glenbrook
Birmingham, AL
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| Re: Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294449 is a reply to message #294441] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 11:29 |
jhbridges
Messages: 8412
Registered: May 2011
Location: Braselton ga
Karma: -74
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Senior Member |
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Well, I use the forum ever since the remailing service decided it didn't like Yahoo for whatever reason.
But consider - the fact that there's a mailing list associated with it makes pretty much zero difference to me one way or the other. I see no need whatsoever to worry over it. You want emails? cool, have emails. You wanna read the forum? Cool, read the forum. It is a "non-issue"
--johnny
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell
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| Re: [GMCnet] Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294453 is a reply to message #294441] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 11:32 |
Olly Schmidt
Messages: 1265
Registered: February 2014
Location: Germany and Scottsville, ...
Karma: 8
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As has been noted, this issue comes up regularly.
For me, there is ONE single reason PRO mailing list: Being able to use
it offline.
I can read whenever I want, I have access whenever I want, I can write
whenever I want. There are so many places, where internet access is not
available, too expensive, too slow etc. Downloading the latest messages
of the mailing list takes no time, and I can limit my connection time
and bandwidth tremendously.
And finding stuff in my mail folder is easy peasy.
--
Best regards
Peer Oliver Schmidt
PGP Key ID: 0x83E1C2EA
'76a Eleganza II, VA
_______________________________________________
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Best regards
Olly Schmidt
PGP Key ID: 0x18a9 3a1f 4196 bf22
'76a Eleganza II, VA
'73 Sequoia, SH, Germany
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| Re: [GMCnet] Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294460 is a reply to message #294453] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 12:49 |
Kudzu
Messages: 377
Registered: November 2011
Location: Marshville, NC
Karma: 0
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Plus organizing and archiving articles saves time later on. I work for a
software company, we make web-based solutions. I still like the "old"
way because it meets my requirements for this application. The web forum
does not.
Dan in NC
1976 Eleganza II
On 1/26/2016 12:32 PM, Peer Oliver Schmidt GMC wrote:
> As has been noted, this issue comes up regularly.
>
> For me, there is ONE single reason PRO mailing list: Being able to use
> it offline.
>
> I can read whenever I want, I have access whenever I want, I can write
> whenever I want. There are so many places, where internet access is not
> available, too expensive, too slow etc. Downloading the latest messages
> of the mailing list takes no time, and I can limit my connection time
> and bandwidth tremendously.
>
> And finding stuff in my mail folder is easy peasy.
>
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
1976 Eleganza II
1996 Chevy Impala SS
1999 Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad
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| Re: [GMCnet] Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294462 is a reply to message #294441] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 13:01 |
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USAussie
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma: 6
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Senior Member |
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Justin,
First of all you have NOT offended me, there's a quote attributed to Voltaire (and others) that says; "I disapprove of what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Here's my system:
I use Microsoft Outlook for my emails. I hit send receive and Outlook "talks" to my ISP - iinet and downloads all the GMCnet emails
into my Inbox. The Inbox has headings of "From - Subject - Received - Size" which I can sort the incoming emails by. Normally I sort
them by Subject as that groups them all together. I then look at the titles and authors of and decide if I want to read that persons
input. If I find some interesting information in any particular email I put it in a folder for the subject for ready off line
reference.
Re:
In my (admittedly humble and most likely minority) opinion, there should be a thread, or a slideshow, or a PDF explaining the use of
the forum to those who don't know how to use it. It is really very very simple and self explanatory. There should then be a mass
email to all those on the mailing list that starting at such and such a date the mailing list will be discontinued in favor of a
forum setup. Anyone who is not engaged enough to take the 10 minutes to learn to use the forum isn't participating enough to be
effected anyway IMHO.
If you put together the "thread, or a slideshow, or a PDF explaining the use of the forum" I will show you the respect of taking as
long as it takes me to understand why you feel it is an advantage to use it to replace my system above.
Regards,
Rob M.
The Pedantic Mechanic
-----Original Message-----
From: Gmclist [mailto:gmclist-bounces@list.gmcnet.org] On Behalf Of Justin Brady
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2016 3:47 AM
To: gmclist@list.gmcnet.org
Subject: [GMCnet] Mailing list ...why are we still using it?
Okay at the risk of offending seemingly everyone....
Why on earth is there still a mailing list for this forum? It ruins the forum experience and I don't know how much longer I'll be
able to take it!
I've been on forums for the last 10+ years and this is the only one that still uses a mailing list (or has in the last 10 years in
my experience)
I realize that people are set in their ways, but honestly how hard is it to get on a forum instead of reading email?
The experience is so much better, there's a visual interface, the threads are consolidated, you can actually carry on a conversation
with someone, etc.
Mailing lists are ancient tech, way past their useful lives, and quite frankly it ruins this forum for me.
I know I'm new and young and stupid etc, but at some point someone has to say something, someone (other than me) has to realize that
this forum is going the way of the Dodo. As a very experienced forum user and member of the younger generation I will tell you flat
out that it's because of the mailing list.
You can't find anything because there are 10908 threads with the same title: "RE: thread number 10908" "RE:RE: Thread 10908" etc
If I want to find a discussion on the Onan, I have to click through 500 1 message threads to find any useful information.
For instance:
I'm very interested in BobDunahugh's restoration project. Instead of clicking on BobDunahugh's restoration thread, i get a seemingly
random update every day with a completely new post. So if I want to read about his restoration, I have to go to literally 100
threads to read it. I don't know about everyone else, but I get on here to waste a few minutes and learn a thing or two, I don't
have 2 hours to track through trying to figure out what is going on.
Imagine if all of his stuff was in one thread, you could just scroll through and read all about what he's doing, you'd know where he
currently stands in the project, what he's currently doing, what parts he needs, what parts hes selling, etc all by reading the last
page or two rather than the last 100 topics.
Bob, I apologize for singling you out on this, no offense is meant in any way, it's just a good example of my point! My apologies
for using you as the example.
Now that I have ranted and offended everyone, why don't I propose a solution?
In my (admittedly humble and most likely minority) opinion, there should be a thread, or a slideshow, or a PDF explaining the use of
the forum to those who don't know how to use it. It is really very very simple and self explanatory. There should then be a mass
email to all those on the mailing list that starting at such and such a date the mailing list will be discontinued in favor of a
forum setup. Anyone who is not engaged enough to take the 10 minutes to learn to use the forum isn't participating enough to be
effected anyway IMHO.
This is just my 2 cents, and is probably worth less than that. I just felt the need to get that out there to maybe give the forum a
chance at a change and a chance at a future. As it stands in a couple of years no one will be on here and everyone will be on
Facebook, and I can at least say that my hatred of Facebook is on par with most of yours!
Justin Brady
1976 Palm Beach 455
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
Regards,
Rob M. (USAussie)
The Pedantic Mechanic
Sydney, Australia
'75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
'75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
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| Re: [GMCnet] Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294463 is a reply to message #294441] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 13:10 |
Rob
Messages: 651
Registered: November 2013
Location: Victoria, BC
Karma: 3
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Senior Member |
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I prefer email. I already have too many forums to visit (and usually don't once my time gets limited). With the email mirror - I can catch up when/if I want to… It's not a "technology" limitation for me, it's about convenience.
More often than not, if I need to search posts that I don't have locally, I use the Google GMCnet Archive to do my searches.
My proposal: I'll create a PDF that explains how to use the various email clients (except for Outlook - I detest Outlook!) and we can set a date to shutdown the web forum! (JK'!)
Rob
Victoria, BC
76 Royale - Rear Twins/Dry Bath
On 2016-01-26, at 8:47 AM, Justin Brady wrote:
> Now that I have ranted and offended everyone, why don't I propose a solution?
>
> In my (admittedly humble and most likely minority) opinion, there should be a thread, or a slideshow, or a PDF explaining the use of the forum to
> those who don't know how to use it. It is really very very simple and self explanatory. There should then be a mass email to all those on the mailing
> list that starting at such and such a date the mailing list will be discontinued in favor of a forum setup. Anyone who is not engaged enough to take
> the 10 minutes to learn to use the forum isn't participating enough to be effected anyway IMHO.
>
> This is just my 2 cents, and is probably worth less than that. I just felt the need to get that out there to maybe give the forum a chance at a change
> and a chance at a future. As it stands in a couple of years no one will be on here and everyone will be on Facebook, and I can at least say that my
> hatred of Facebook is on par with most of yours!
>
> --
> Justin Brady
> 1976 Palm Beach 455
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
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Rob -
Victoria, BC -
76 Royale - Rear Twins/Dry Bath
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| Re: Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294465 is a reply to message #294441] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 13:29 |
jhbridges
Messages: 8412
Registered: May 2011
Location: Braselton ga
Karma: -74
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Senior Member |
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Terry, when I log onto the forum, it highlights those threads with unread messages. I read it via Firefox.
--johnny
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell
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| Re: Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294469 is a reply to message #294465] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 14:05 |
Justin Brady
Messages: 769
Registered: April 2015
Location: Bell Buckle, TN
Karma: 11
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Senior Member |
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Well there you have it! All valid answers
Different strokes for different folks I suppose.
Being offline is not an issue for me, I can't remember the last time I didn't have internet access. My phone and hotspot are always connected, if I'm somewhere that doesn't have signal I am doing more fun things than playing online 
Rob: RE:
I use Microsoft Outlook for my emails. I hit send receive and Outlook "talks" to my ISP - iinet and downloads all the GMCnet emails
into my Inbox. The Inbox has headings of "From - Subject - Received - Size" which I can sort the incoming emails by. Normally I sort
them by Subject as that groups them all together. I then look at the titles and authors of and decide if I want to read that persons
input. If I find some interesting information in any particular email I put it in a folder for the subject for ready off line
reference.
My question is why go to all that trouble? I type "GMC" and google chrome completes the forum address, I then click "GMCNet" and there you have it, all of the threads are (well should be, they aren't because of the mailing list issues we are talking about) organized into threads all discussing the same subject, people are communicating directly to one another in a forum format they are sorted and organized by date and author. This way you read what you want, you don't end up dismissing peoples input and advice because it wasn't properly labeled, or you don't care to read the persons input. You end up reading (and learning) a lot more.
If I were designing this forum, it would have several other categories:
Tech (for technical questions)
Builds (for people to post their detailed builds and remodels in)
Chit chat (just for general bs)
I dunno, I guess I just feel like people are only here to find out why their engine is sputtering or how to fix this and that. I'm just annoyed I suppose.
Justin Brady
http://www.thegmcrv.com/
1976 Palm Beach 455
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| Re: [GMCnet] Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294473 is a reply to message #294469] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 14:29 |
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USAussie
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma: 6
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Senior Member |
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Justin,
I guess I wasn't clear in my first response, to get my GMCnet fix daily I:
Click on the Outlook icon on my desktop
Outlook opens
Click on Send/Receive
Outlook AUTOMATICALLY downloads ALL my emails to my Inbox sorted by subject
I read the From - Subject - Received - Size line and decide first if I am interested in the subject and secondly if I'm interested
in reading what a particular individual has to say.
If I am interested in what the particular individual has to say I click on that email and read it.
If I feel it is information that I'd like to save I move the email to a folder on the subject.
All that trouble = clicking the mouse twice.
Regards,
Rob M.
The Pedantic Mechanic
-----Original Message-----
From: Gmclist [mailto:gmclist-bounces@list.gmcnet.org] On Behalf Of Justin Brady
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2016 7:06 AM
To: gmclist@list.gmcnet.org
Subject: Re: [GMCnet] Mailing list ...why are we still using it?
Well there you have it! All valid answers
Different strokes for different folks I suppose.
Being offline is not an issue for me, I can't remember the last time I didn't have internet access. My phone and hotspot are always
connected, if I'm somewhere that doesn't have signal I am doing more fun things than playing online :d
Rob: RE:
I use Microsoft Outlook for my emails. I hit send receive and Outlook "talks" to my ISP - iinet and downloads all the GMCnet emails
into my Inbox. The Inbox has headings of "From - Subject - Received - Size" which I can sort the incoming emails by. Normally I sort
them by Subject as that groups them all together. I then look at the titles and authors of and decide if I want to read that persons
input. If I find some interesting information in any particular email I put it in a folder for the subject for ready off line
reference.
My question is why go to all that trouble? I type "GMC" and google chrome completes the forum address, I then click "GMCNet" and
there you have it, all of the threads are (well should be, they aren't because of the mailing list issues we are talking about)
organized into threads all discussing the same subject, people are communicating directly to one another in a forum format they are
sorted and organized by date and author. This way you read what you want, you don't end up dismissing peoples input and advice
because it wasn't properly labeled, or you don't care to read the persons input. You end up reading (and learning) a lot more.
If I were designing this forum, it would have several other categories:
Tech (for technical questions)
Builds (for people to post their detailed builds and remodels in)
Chit chat (just for general bs)
I dunno, I guess I just feel like people are only here to find out why their engine is sputtering or how to fix this and that. I'm
just annoyed I suppose.
--
Justin Brady
1976 Palm Beach 455
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
Regards,
Rob M. (USAussie)
The Pedantic Mechanic
Sydney, Australia
'75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
'75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
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| Re: Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294474 is a reply to message #294441] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 14:44 |
jhbridges
Messages: 8412
Registered: May 2011
Location: Braselton ga
Karma: -74
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Senior Member |
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"I dunno, I guess I just feel like people are only here to find out why their engine is sputtering or how to fix this and that. I'm just annoyed I suppose. "
In what way is this annoying? I submit it has value for everybody. (The how to, not the 'annoyance') Give the c.v. of some of the folks here - yourself included on matters interior - there's information probably not available anywhere else.
--johnny
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell
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| Re: [GMCnet] Mailing list ...why are we still using it? [message #294476 is a reply to message #294471] |
Tue, 26 January 2016 14:48 |
Rob
Messages: 651
Registered: November 2013
Location: Victoria, BC
Karma: 3
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Senior Member |
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I haven't had dial up since the very early 90's - ISDN originally and now 100+Mb cable. But I do have a tremendous amount of storage in my server room - I'm a "bit hoarder"...
But either way - I still prefer the email list!!
Rob
Victoria, BC
76 Royale - Rear Twins/Dry Bath
On 2016-01-26, at 12:25 PM, A. wrote:
> I think of it this way: The email list subscribers are still on dial-up internet access (either in reality, or the mindset). Using their own archiving
> and sorting processes allows them to work their database offline with only occasional internet connection.
>
> Forum/broadband users don't use their own hard drive space or build their own archive structures and search methods since the data is available and
> searchable all the time online.
> --
> '73 23' Sequoia For Sale
> '73 23' CanyonLands Parts Unit For Sale
> Upper Alabama
> Why don't they sell spray paint that washes off with soap and water for graffiti vandals to use?
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Rob -
Victoria, BC -
76 Royale - Rear Twins/Dry Bath
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